China to Produce 15 Million Green Cars By 2020

Last year, China surpassed the United States as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases,
much of that due to China also having the world’s largest automobile
market. To help mitigate pollution from transportation, the Chinese
government has announced plans to put 15 million green energy cars on
its market within 10 years.

The different types of cars will be electric vehicles, hybrid energy cars, hydrogen fuel cars or solar-powered cars.
The move would make China the world’s largest market for eco-friendly
cars. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has
formulated a blueprint to create this green energy automobile industry and will soon submit the plans to its State Department for final approval.

China’s auto market grew by nearly 50 percent from 2008 to 2009.
This has only further increased pollution levels for a country already
rife with poor urban air quality, contaminated rivers and extensive
deforestation. The government has apparently recognized this and
decided to subsidize clean energy to the tune of billions of dollars.
The automobile industry alone will receive (assuming final approval)
some 100 billion yuan, or US $14.8 billion, to increase the use of
eco-friendly cars to 15 million between 2011 and 2020.

The auto plan will also subsidize domestic battery and engine
manufacturers. By 2020, the plan is to have 3-5 big domestic green car
manufacturers and 2-3 battery and engine producers in place.